Career field in personal finance/accounting?

[DebbieL]

You may find you enjoy accounting (which is not sales driven). Why not see if an accountant will let you "job shadow" them for a day - and you can ask some questions? I used to work for an Architectural firm and people (for example high school students) would often call up and ask questions about the profession, or ask to do a job shadow day.

[buildmybudget]

Being from a family of 10 kids primarily raised by a single Mom who knows absolutely nothing about handling money, all I ever dreamed about was being a financial advisor so I could help my family out of it's financial troubles. I majored in Finance and after graduating became a "financial advisor," just like I always dreamed I would. Turns out, the only way I could make a nickel was selling Universal Life Insurance(a terrible product!) and I wound up spending more money driving the state of FL than I ever made on the job. Even if all you needed was help opening a 401k, the only way I was getting paid was through a VUL..so guess what I recommended? I'm much happier today helping people just learn how to budget. If I took one thing away from my experience as a "FA," it is that people generally have no idea where their money goes and thus no idea where they are headed financially. Like DisneySteve, you can get alot out of helping people on forums, etc., and still make a good living doing something you are good at.(which doesn't require selling your soul! ;-)